Semiconductor devices are used in many electronic and other applications. Semiconductor devices include integrated circuits (IC) or discrete devices that are formed on semiconductor wafers by depositing many types of thin films of material over the semiconductor wafers. Semiconductor devices are packaged using various packaging technologies, including over-molded through hole or surface mount devices or ball grid array (BGA), Plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA), Flip-chip chip scale package (CSP) (FCBGA), and so forth.
Packaged semiconductor devices may be mounted to carriers, such as printed circuit boards, for use in electronic applications. Conventional printed circuit boards may consist of a core member or layer—generally referred to as PCB core laminate layer—and may include one or more additional layers laminated to the core layer. For example, a PCB may include a plurality of conductive and insulating layers sandwiched together. Openings, referred to as interconnect or through vias, may be drilled or punched through one or more of the sandwiched layers to provide a conductive path between certain traces on different layers.
Typically a printed circuit board (PCB) is populated with components post manufacture and in the case of the semiconductor devices, these are supplied as packaged devices for mounting to the PCB. It is desirable for semiconductor packages to provide performance and leverage efficient manufacturing methods to achieve cost reductions.